Wading pools, concrete splash pads, and the like are filled with a few inches of water during suitably warm weather, typically a summer season, in order to provide a shallow water-filled structure for young children and others to play in. Unlike regular swimming pools, the water in wading pools and splash pads is not constantly re-circulated, but is instead drained frequently, typically daily. For the purposes of convenience, brevity and clarity, such wading pools and splash pads will be referred to as splash pads henceforth in this document.
It is known in the prior art to convert such splash pads to an ice skating rink during the winter season, hereinafter referred to as a “convertible splash pad/ice rink structure”. Such a converted splash pad/ice rink structure can typically be used for pleasure skating, or for hockey.
A typical convertible splash pad/ice rink structure comprises a concrete base having a generally planar upper surface and a raised peripheral rim of about two to six inches, to retain water thereon. The planar surface may be entirely flat, but is more typically sloped slightly towards a plurality of drains formed in the concrete base to assist with water flow to the drains. Convertible splash pad/ice rink structures may be any suitable size. Typically, convertible splash pad/ice rink structures having a circular plan outline range anywhere from about twenty feet to about one hundred feet in diameter, and convertible splash pad/ice rink structures having a quadrilateral plan outline range anywhere from about thirty feet (30′) by sixty feet (60′) to about sixty feet (60′) by one hundred twenty feet (120′).
In order to provide the necessary cooling for the formation and maintenance of ice atop the concrete base during the skating season, coolant pipes having a diameter of about a half inch (0.5″) to about one inch (1.0″) are typically put in place during construction of the concrete base. These coolant pipes are typically constructed from a robust plastics material, and are laid out in a parallel pattern with the ends of the pipes connected one to the next at alternating ends in order to form a continuous piping system connected to the pumps and/or compressor of a refrigeration system. In forming the parallel pattern, the coolant pipes are typically laterally spaced about one and one-half inches (1.5″) to about four inches (4.0″) inches apart from each other in order to provide adequate and even cooling of the ice surface that is formed above the upper surface of the concrete base when the skating rink is in use.
In order to facilitate frequent drainage of the splash pad in an acceptable period of time during the swimming season, it is common to utilize a plurality of drains in the concrete base. The exact number of drains reasonably required depends on the size of the convertible splash pad/ice rink structure. Each drain terminates its top end in a drain box, which is typically, but not essentially, square in plan outline. The drain boxes and drains can advantageously, from the standpoint of quick drainage, be of a relatively large size. Typically, the drains can be up to perhaps eight inches (8.0″) in diameter and the drain boxes can be up to perhaps sixteen inches (16.0″) in width or diameter.
One significant consideration in determining the size and number of drains and drain boxes to be used in a convertible splash pad/ice rink is that of cost of installation. Each of the drains provided must be in fluid communication with a respective drain pipe buried in the ground below the concrete base. Further, each drain pipe connects to a common drainage system. The construction of a system of numerous drain boxes and drain pipes is typically quite expensive. Accordingly, from a cost standpoint, it is desirable to use fewer larger drain boxes as opposed to a greater number of smaller drain boxes.
However, the use of larger drain boxes causes a significant problem with respect to conventional splash pad/ice rink structures. This is so, as larger drains and drain boxes present a sizeable disruption in the upper surface of the concrete base of the convertible splash pad/ice rink structure. Accordingly, portions of the in-ground coolant pipes in the vicinity of each drain must be diverted from their normal parallel paths (where they are typically spaced apart one from the next by about one and a half inches (1.5″) to about four inches (4.0″)), to bend around the drain boxes so as to accommodate placement of the drain boxes in the concrete base between the coolant pipes. Accordingly, the use of large drains and drain boxes is not a satisfactory solution for convertible splash pad/ice rink structures, as they create correspondingly large “warm spots” in the ice formed above the drains during the skating season, due to the aforesaid diversion of the in-ground coolant pipes around the drain boxes. Such warm spots can be dangerous to skaters using the ice surface, and therefore are highly undesirable, and even unacceptable.
Exacerbating this problem is the fact that the drains that extend downwardly from each of the plurality of drain boxes each act as a “cooling sink”, to draw refrigerated cold away from the concrete base and the ice surface. As such, “warm spots” caused by the drains positioned in the upper surface of convertible splash pad/ice rink structures are a significant problem in the prior art that has yet to be satisfactorily addressed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drain box assembly for a convertible splash pad/ice rink structure that substantially eliminates this problem in association with prior art drain boxes for convertible splash pad/ice rink structures
It is another object of the present invention to provide a drain box assembly for a convertible splash pad/ice rink structure, wherein the amount of work necessary to construct and connect all of these drains, and the cost associated therewith, are both reduced significantly as compared to the prior art usage of a relatively larger number of smaller sized drain boxes.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a drain box assembly for a convertible splash pad/ice rink structure, that substantially eliminates “warm spots” in the ice formed above the drains during the winter season, while also providing for quick and efficient drainage of water covering the upper surface of a convertible wading pool during the swimming season.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a drain box assembly for a convertible splash pad/ice rink structure, wherein the problem of the drain pipes that extend downwardly from each of the plurality of drains acting as a “cooling sink”, is precluded, or at least substantially ameliorated.